


Shane Dooiney

by Monaro



Series: Sudrian History [2]
Category: The Railway Series - W. Awdry, Thomas the Tank Engine - All Media Types
Genre: Other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-17
Updated: 2020-08-17
Packaged: 2021-03-05 20:02:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,464
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25951090
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Monaro/pseuds/Monaro
Summary: Two entrepreneurs come to Sodor to stake their claim. What they find is more than they bargained for.Part two of @RingoStarrlight on Twitter's commissions! He told me to write about the history of Sodor, and I did not disappoint! At last, it's been released!
Series: Sudrian History [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1883500
Kudos: 2





	Shane Dooiney

Jynx Winters

_Shane Dooiney_

**_MEN OF INDUSTRY! MEN OF ADVENTURE!_ **

**Unparalleled opportunities await you on the Island of Sodor!**

  * **Rich with gold, lead and copper**


  * Served by three railways



    * **_EXCELLENT_** **ports**



  * **Accessible by night steamer to Liverpool/Man/Dublin**


  * Cheap plots available!



**Nevermind America! Perish the thought of darkest Africa! Visit a land of unimaginable wealth right on the doorstep of our home island, populated with respectable, white, genteel people, available for hire this very day!**

**BOOK YOUR TICKETS TODAY!**

**A message from the Sudrian Economic Union.** **  
**  


The Island of Sodor experienced great economic growth in the late 19th century- and much of it was based on a scam.

When gold was found in the Arlesburgh Valley in 1867, it triggered a major shift in the island’s fortunes. Sodor had been, until this point, a mostly pastoral land, dependent mostly on a few slate mates and fishing. From ‘67 to the onset of the Great War, however, it became a sought-after land.

Convinced that gold lie in every rock, English and American investors swarmed in. Railway branches were opened, the existing system received substantial investment.

There was one railway on Sodor that encapsulated the boom- and it happens to be the one nobody talked about. Its grand plans resulted in nothing: A line through the mountains, meant to connect the MSR and Skarloey, only to be bypassed and abandoned to a committee of quarries after its American investors backed out. This line was the Dooiney Highland, a miserable hill-climber with too much motive power, too much debt, and too little traffic.

The line was established by a group of London businessmen in 1868, but taken over by Jay Gould the following year. Its first chief engineer was one of the men who surveyed the Skarloey Railway, but following the change of management, he was replaced. The new man was Jeb Lesley, a Tennessean with a dour expression, an ash-grey suit, and an ego the size of a whale. He routed the railway through the mountains using an old pass first described by invading English.

The play was simple: Build a line to nowhere, sell plots to prospectors, and reap the benefits. It was no matter whether or not the land actually had gold. After all, at the prices land on Sodor was going for, most of the buyers would not be business-savvy.

Two of those buyers were brothers; two contractors from East London, the two had built factories for textile men. They had amassed a small fortune in this business, and had just started to provide decently for their family when they decided to come to Sodor. This decision would lose them all they had worked for.

Enter, Gerald and Geoffrey Miles.

In the spring of 1874, the two had received an invitation to come to the Dooiney Highland line. These flyers- published by both the DHR and the Sudrian Economic Union- were posted all over Britain. They invited dilettantes to come see the sights, shop for land, and hopefully start a business. The two were invited to ride in the luxurious Pullman cars the DHR had ordered, behind 2ft Baldwin 4-40s dressed to the nines.They listened to lectures by a man named Doctor John Robert, hired to explain why Sodor’s hills were so rich with gold. They purchased sizeable acreage above the towns of Dooiney and Lakeside-... and found there was no gold at all.

But there was good stone- and an amazing landmark. A perfectly spherical rock lay perched atop a hill, above the site of their prospective mine. It was greater than a hundred feet in diameter, and, according to Doctor Robert, the work of ancient primitives… a marvel second only to stonehenge.

The Miles Brothers quickly pivoted, and their quarry opened in 1876. It was a big concern for those days, but although it was connected to the railway, it was still remote. The “high line”, as it was called, was dangerous during the winter: Rockslides, heavy fogs, steep curves. Sheer drops and light rail made for some exciting derailments. Quarrymen either had to commute an hour from the nearest village, or sleep on-site.. Many opted the latter. However, that didn’t stop them from coming to work- or the tourists from seeing “The Great Boulder”. The brothers heavily promoted their landmark, and it is believed that much of the quarry’s profit was derived from the rock, rather than the stone! This tourist trade, uninterrupted from 1876 to ‘88, was the highest traffic the Dooiney Highland had ever witnessed, and warranted the construction of four Baldwin 2-6-0s- effectively, larger versions of the line’s original 4-4-0s.

Then came the disappearances. Men began to go missing in the night, when heavy mists rolled in. Men were confined to quarters, for if they ventured off into the mists, they could be lost forever.

The Miles Brothers caught wind of this, and hired security. Men patrolled the quarry with guns and clubs, starting at voices in the fog. During the entirety of their patrols, the men heard much commotion, but caught no kidnappers… Nor did they prevent the disappearance of six more men.

The brothers had enough. They sold their property in London, and moved up the mountain. They shacked up in a platelayer's hut, meaning to build a more permanent house later. These plans never reached fruition, and the two spent the rest of their miserable time up there in the creaking, leaking shack.

Over the years, the line deteriorated, and so did business. Slate traffic dried up, and with the opening of the standard-gauge the Peel Godred line, the line was completely redundant… Still, the Miles Brothers held on. After Gould’s departure, they took shares in the company with other customers- including the American railway baron E.H. Harriman.

And the disappearances grew worse.

The guards had gone; the workers had been laid off. The mists were all-encompassing, all year-round. The Miles Brothers were reduced to mountain hermits, riding the train down the mountain to market once a month. They could keep no chickens, as whoever stalked the night slit their throats. Their dogs were smashed with rocks and left to die. Some people thought it was them.

One night, the brothers heard a commotion outside. The fog was thick, and nothing could be seen. There was chanting, in some other tongue- maybe nonsense. Gravel kicked, a drum pounded.

Geoffrey Miles grabbed his shotgun, and stepped outside. He never came back.

The next morning, an early freight was making its way down the mountain. At its helm was DHR #13, a Baldwin 2-6-0 named _Constantine_. Normally, the passenger trains would keep a lookout for the Miles Brothers, and slow for a flag stop at the mouth of the quarry. However, the freight was under no such obligation, and as it rounded the corner it was doing better than thirty miles an hour. Gerald Miles, waving a red flag, lept drunkenly from its path and busted his teeth on the gravel. By the time he got up, the train was stopped and the driver, fireman and guard were all sauntering over to see what was the matter.

Gerald sought the authorities at Crovan’s Gate, and the Constabulary offered a manhunt. Miles turned them down; no body would be recovered, he said. Ignoring him, an effort was mounted to find Geoffrey- after all, perhaps he was still alive in the mountains? Special trains combed the route with loudhailers, calling for him. Mountaineers hiked all over Shane Dooiney’s peaks, but found no trace. A flight of Sopwiths from the local airbase was even called to search by air- but two planes got lost- only one returning. The other flew into a bank of fog and was never seen again.

An investigation was launched on the Miles Brothers Quarry. Only one stone was left unturned- the massive, perfectly-rounded boulder which presided over the place. After it was suspected he himself had caused the disappearances, the remaining brother was subjected to a murder trial sensationalized by the press. After a lengthy trial and a lengthier stay in the pokey, with noone to bail him out, the case was dropped, and the old fellow shuffled away into history.

Gerald Miles lived out the rest of his life in a mental hospital.

When Harriman died, the line was operated by the quarries until 1938. The Skarloey operated it for ten more years- and from 1948 onward, it was abandoned. However, following Duke’s restoration in the 1970’s, renewed interest in the DHR resorted in its reopening, and the rediscovery/restoration of its last remaining locomotive- a secondhand Hunslet named Freddie.

The Miles Brothers may be forgotten- one disappeared up the mountain, the other dead many years- but their quarry was once reopened.. and their great Boulder made quite the impact.


End file.
